PRESS RELEASE
Lezhe Municipality Launches Computerized Tax System
November 10, 2009 The Municipality of Lezhe, with the support of USAID’s Local
Governance Program in Albania (LGPA) launched today a new computerized municipal tax
system. The new tax system allows for more efficient and effective administration of tax
collections and services that will lead to greater tax revenue for the city and improved
services for citizens of Lezhe.
USAID/LGPA provided both technical and material support to the Lezhe Tax Department
including over 3.6 million Lek in both IT hardware and software. With this support, LGPA is
helping to improve the quality of local government. The computerization of the Lezhe Tax
Department will result in:
Better local governance: Computerization of functions that are currently done manually
will reduce the amount of time needed to accurately calculate tax bills, track tax
payments, and develop revenue projections. Decision-makers in the municipality will also
be able to now produce better and more frequent reports and analyses of tax revenues
(including source {by specific tax and by type of tax payer}, total percentage collected,
and outstanding liabilities).
Improved customer service: Improved local governance will allow the municipality to
provide better service to the community. Using the new software, Lezha will be able to
collect more tax revenues and be able to create more complete and accurate budgets of
municipal services to citizens.
Reduced corruption and error: Automated financial management and tax systems will
increase monitoring and evaluation, reduce manual errors, and decrease the one-on-one
interactions with tax officials that is often cited as leading to corrupt practices.
USAID’s Local Governance Program in Albania (LGPA) works with its partner municipalities
in Albania to foster local economic growth, improve local governance, and strengthen civic
and private sector engagement in local development. In addition to Lezhe, USAID’s local
governance program will be introducing computerized tax systems in Elbasan, Fier, Fushe-
Kruje, Gramsh, Korçe, Kukes, Librazhd, Pogradec and Shkoder. USAID support for
computerizing the municipal tax departments is valued at 36,700,000 Lek.
For more information please contact: Silvana Meko, Local Governance Specialist, Mobile:
0694033831, email: Smeko@lgpa.al or office phone: ++355-4-266-637, or www.lgpa.al